A little early, of course, because silly pandas don't take off work for conventions in Pittsburgh. @_@;

Thursday, July 2, 2009
Thursday was pretty much registration day for me. After work, I hike the couple of blocks to the convention center (and Westin Hotel) and headed up to the Zoo. This was where registration was located last year, and I was unaware of the location change. I ran into my friends and Blaze (Mike) showed me where registration had moved to. He was going on and on about how long the line was, and blah blah blah. When we got to registration, which was across the convention center from the hotel, I was amazed by the on-site registration line and smiled. I had pre-registered and there was no line for me to pick up my badge. And thus, badge in hand, we headed back over to the Zoo to hang out.

My brother rode us home because Fris flaked out on us and we had a late meal at Denny's before we headed to bed.

Friday, July 3, 2009
What a busy day! Opening ceremonies was a lot of fun! By 11am on Friday, we had over 3400 people registered for the convention. Of course, the rules were outlined for the convention, and threats made to those who kept breaking the escalators. Apparently, someone was unscrewing the lightbulbs in the elevators, too. Uncle Kage wasn't happy about it, and the person who was doing it has a permanent lifetime ban from AC, and probably a lot of other furry conventions, too. I wonder if they ever figured out who it was.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out, chatting with random furs and enjoying the company. Unfortunately, Silver's silent rave didn't work out. No one showed up. I've heard, though, that he's going to try and get it to be a sanctioned event for next year. I hope it goes through.

Uncle Kage's Story Hour was, of course, hilarious. The stories that he tells are always so funny and always true. He really has a way with words and story telling. Afterwards, we headed to August Henry's for Furryoke.

Saturday, July 4, 2009
Saturday was a busy day. First we went to the Women in the Fandom panel and got to meet a lot of ladies. There was chocolate covered pretzels there, among other things, and balloons.

Following that, we set off for the Dealer's Den. I commissioned two con badges in Artists Alley and then picked up a pillow and T-shirt from the Dealers side. Andri and I went and sat down for a while and caught the backs of the furs in the Fursuit Parade. Apparently, there were 640 people in the parade. That was a lot of furs.

Got pizza delivered to the Westin for dinner and chilled in the Zoo for a bit. Then we headed over to 2's Rant. Let me tell you, 2 the Ranting Gryphon with fireworks in the background was just plain AWESOME. And he was, of course, hilarious. Following that, we went to see Jibba and Spazfox perform, which was also a lot of fun.

We actually headed out a little bit later than the night before, but we all passed out pretty fast.

Sunday, July 5, 2009
Andri and I headed to the Fursuiting 101 panel this morning. I think we learned a lot, and it just makes me want to build a suit even more. I'm actually excited for the prospect. Following the panel, I swung by the Dealer's Den again, spoke to and artist and got things worked out for the badge I had commissioned the day before. Morgain (Trish) is going to have to pick it up for me, since I'm at work now.

Unfortunately, I really just want to go back over to the convention center. I really don't want to be at work right now.